Wellness

Wellness

Wellness Checkup

St. Francis Pet Hospital offers a progressive new approach to veterinary care. Our Wellness Program embraces a focus on preventative medicine based on the specific life-stage of your pet. Each patient is assessed individually based on factors such as species, breed, age, and environmental challenges. Next we offer recommendations for prevention, nutrition, and diagnostic work-ups appropriate for your pet.

Our role is to educate you on those procedures and medications especially beneficial for your pet. This allows us to be more flexible with our recommendations, and gives you more control of your pets healthcare.

The key to St. Francis Pet Hospital Wellness Program is an emphasis on the annual health examination. Each year when your pet comes in he or she will receive a comprehensive physical exam and age appropriate ancillary diagnostics (such as blood pressure screening, parasite tests and blood work) to screen for early signs of disease.

For participants in the St. Francis Pet Hospital Wellness Program, any vaccinations due at the time of the annual exam will be given at current participant rates. Patients with health-related concerns will be recommended more advanced diagnostics when needed. More frequent re-evaluations will most-likely become necessary for those pets with ongoing illnesses.

Please contact us for more information or to enroll your pet in the St. Francis Pet Hospital Wellness Program.

Please call us at 780-478-7077

Vaccinations

Pets, like people, can be protected from some diseases by vaccination. Experts agree that widespread use of vaccines within the last century has prevented death and disease in millions of animals. Although this resource provides basic information about vaccinations for your dog or cat, your veterinarian is your best source for advice regarding your pet's vaccination needs.

What are vaccines?

Vaccines are health products that trigger protective immune responses in pets and prepare them to fight future infections from disease-causing agents. Vaccines can lessen the severity of future diseases and certain vaccines can prevent infection altogether. Today, a variety of vaccines are available for use by veterinarians.

Is it important to vaccinate?

Yes! Pets should be vaccinated to protect them from many highly contagious and deadly diseases. Experts agree that widespread use of vaccines within the last century has prevented death and disease in millions of animals. Even though some formerly common diseases have now become uncommon, vaccination is still highly recommended because these serious disease agents continue to be present in the environment.

Please call us at 780-478-7077 to ensure that your pet is up to date on vaccines

Parasite

Prevention

There are many types of parasites that are found in the GI tract of cats and dogs. Worms such as roundworms, whipworms, and hookworms are very common in almost all parts of the world. These parasites shed their infective eggs in the pet's stool and contaminate the environment; some eggs can live on yards or fields for years. The eggs are ingested by the pet and the life cycle is completed when the worm grow into an adult in the intestine of a new host.

Tapeworms are another very common intestinal parasite of dogs and cats. This parasite is different though, in that it requires transmission through an intermediate host, most commonly a flea. Other intermediate hosts can be mice, rats, or rabbits. The dog or cat eats the intermediate host containing the tapeworm egg, and the tapeworm completes its life cycle to develop into an adult in the intestine of the dog or cat. The intermediate host is required, if a pet eats an adult tapeworm or tapeworm segment, it will not cause tapeworms to grow in its intestine.

Other parasites can live in the intestine that are not worms such as one-celled organisms called protozoa, which are also prevalent parasites among pets. Giardia and coccidia are protozoa that can be transmitted directly from animals to your pet, or your pet can be exposed from contaminated water. Diagnosis of these parasites requires your veterinarian or their laboratory finding either the microscopic parasite or its egg in the stool.

The only parasites that can be seen in the stool with the naked eye are roundworms and tapeworms. If your pet's stool looks normal, don't think your pet can't be infected. There is no one drug that can kill all types of intestinal parasites that exist. Your veterinarian needs to know what kind of parasite(s) infection is involved, so a correct drug can be prescribed. Also, some of the monthly heartworm preventatives will also treat roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms.

Fleas are the number one allergen of dogs and cats and can cause severe skin disease and itching. Another reason fleas should be treated is due to the fact that they can carry and spread several serious diseases, such as tapeworms, Cat scratch disease (Bartonella), murine typhus, and the bubonic plague.

Ticks are the small wingless external parasites, living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and occasionally reptiles and amphibians. Ticks are important vectors of a number of diseases. Ticks are second only to mosquitoes as vectors of human disease, both infectious and toxic. Hard ticks can transmit human diseases such as relapsing fever, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, equine encephalitis, Colorado tick fever, and several forms of ehrlichiosis. Additionally, they are responsible for transmitting livestock and pet diseases, including babesiosis, anaplasmosis and cytauxzoonosis.

There are several types of good products to kill adult fleas: Activyl, Frontline, Advantage, Comfortis, Capstar, Revolution, and others. Older products of various formulations of synthetic pyrethrins are also available, some of which are highly toxic to cats. Lufenuron and methoprene are chemicals that work on immature stages of the flea, although there is no chemical that will kill the pupal stage.

If you suspect that your pet has parasites, Contact us at 780-478-7077

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